Review: The Lighthouse Witches by C. J. Cooke

5 stars for The Lighthouse Witches by C. J. Cooke.

I have not had much luck with horror novels this year. Seriously, I lost count after the seventh or so book. It is not for lack of trying; I read at least one fifth or even a quarter of the books before throwing in the towel. Those horror stories are not scary at all. Mostly, they read like any other general fiction with one particular book more romance than horror. Gosh!

Most times, it doesn't take long for me to know if a story is written to my taste. Ofttimes, I can tell after a chapter or three if I will enjoy the book. It is usually affirmed at 20% of the story and for this reason, I always try to read at least one fifth of the book before making the final decision to stop or go on. This is the first horror novel after countless many Did Not Finish that I say "YES! This is my cup of coffee" (I don't drink tea).

This book checked all the right boxes for an excellent horror story. It is filled with mystery and suspense. It has supernatural elements as well as historical references which make the story convincing and scary. The author must have put in a lot of hard work researching on Scotland's history, the Scottish witch trials, one of the worst in Europe, to uncover the stories of Scotland's witch hunts.

As the book title dictates, The Lighthouse Witches is a story much related to witches (and women), curses, wildings and beliefs. It is a story as much related to the history of Scotland's witch hunts as it is about connections between past and present. It is scary to read on how the inhabitants of an island can be so affected by the island's violent and tragic history that leads to beliefts rooted deeply in fear and affecting the islanders's actions.

The story kicks off with a mother Olivia Stay (36) and her three daughters, Sapphire (15), Luna (9) and Clover (7) on an island in the dead of the night. The mother is an artist and is commissioned to paint a mural inside a decommissioned lighthouse with a bizarre name of 'The Longing'. The lighthouse was situated on an island, Lòn Haven, off the coast of Scotland. The owner wants to convert the inside of the lighthouse into a writing studio and hires Olivia to prettify it, making it into a writing studio. As the story progresses, readers get to see the world through the perspectives of the mother and two of her daughters.

Much depth is revealed in the portrayal of the characters. And I think, surely, it tells a great deal about the author's own life experiences too, as indicated in the conversation between the mother and her firstborn that span a page or two. In my opinion, it is almost impossible to write as such without drawing on actual events or situations. And yes, it is sad to read such heartbreaking lines because it can be real and it is so real.

Up until two days ago, I thought I will not be able to find and read a good horror novel. I am really happy to have found this book. It makes for a wonderful Halloween reading. Not only that, I am able to read it in time to post my review by tonight. It does not come as a surprise that I am able to finish reading this book over the weekend. Because it is that good a page turner. Once I start reading, it is hard to put the book down.

Review: The Drowning Kind by Jennifer McMahon

3 stars for The Drowning Kind by Jennifer McMahon.

It is the time of the year to read horror stories again!

This book is actually not my top choice to kick start the horror genre with this year. I didn't like the title - The Drowning Kind. "Kind" is a strange choice of word to grace the cover of a book. It gives the feeling that someone has ran out of ideas for the third choice word and simply decides to take the easy way out by using the word "kind" in hope that it will encompass all. But given that copies of this book are readily available in the library, my book club decides to take up my suggestion of this book over some others I have recommended, for our next discussion. So, that is how I ended up reading this kind of book.

The book starts out promising with a good dose of mystery surrounding two sisters Lex and Jax, and a pool of dark water. Then the story takes a turn and shuttles between the past and the present. The past takes place in 1929 and is seen through the eyes of a Mrs Monroe from Lanesborough, New Hampshire, wife to a country doctor. Fast forward ninety years into the present 2019, and Jackie aka Jax brings us on a truth-seeking mission in a place called Sparrow Crest.

Even though the book alternates between two timelines, the story is easy to read and not confusing at all where the two first person narratives are concerned. I think bulk of the reason is that one deals with life while the other death. Besides attempting to shroud the characters in dark misty energies, the author also explores the theme of family dynamics, that of mother and daughter, father and daughter, sister and sister, niece and aunt, grandmother and grandchildren, husband and wife. We see different sides to various characters, most of which mirror what we have in real lives so much that I think those are the real deal that creep me out. I will say the thing I like most about this story is not how well it scares me but rather the subtle message it is trying to send across - be careful what we wish for, and don't be too quick to pass judgement.

I want to like this story through and through. Unfortunately, at three quarters past, I find myself struggling together with the characters who are drowning in secrets. Yes, I get that the waters have special healing power, both a gift and a curse that cannot be explained with reason, logic or science. It gives as well as it takes. I gather all that. But the flood of secrets that are not really secrets but simply a way of skirting the story to make the book thicker with pages do not sit well with me. It gets annoying after a while reading a story that develops with moving two steps backwards for every three steps taken.

I finish reading the book in four days' time - a record for me these days - and am happy to say that I did not flounder as much towards the end. All things considered, the story is not too bad, not the fantastic kind but not the not-fantastic kind either. It is just that I didn't like it as much as I thought I will, and it didn't frighten me as much as I will have preferred.

This year, I start out late reading horror novel, but still, I hope I will be able to read a few more horror books to build up the spooky vibe before Halloween is here.

Review: The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

4 stars for The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield.

This book is what I will call, an unexpected rescue read. Over the years, I have put more books than I care to remember, into the out of sight, out of mind list. These are books that I fail to finish, not for lack of trying, but due to one reason or another, find myself unable to read to the end. This book is one of them. I remember wanting to read a story that does not involve parents, a father or a mother - mostly Young Adult fiction - and this book fails to meet that criterion at that point in time. Since then, this book has been out of my mind for quite some time until lately, when I chanced upon an IG post by a booklover who shared her love for this book and said she feels that this book is underrated. I remember the book right away and quickly move it back to my reading list again. As usual, my greatest fear is missing out on good reads.

It is when I pick up the book to start all over again, with a fresh perspective, that I realise what I have blatantly missed out the first time round. And I think to myself "How did I manage to overlook such a beautifully written story?" The truth is I have passed judgement on this book too early into my reading. The protagonist is indeed living with her father, but being 30 years old, the story will not in any way qualify as a Young Adult fiction which I am trying to avoid so badly.

This book is mostly about words, their language and the imagery it projects. The author is an expert at manipulating words. Such is her power that I am held prisoner by her writing; letters that resolved themselves quickly into characters, then words, then sentences. They make such enchanting passages that I find myself reading and re-reading them, trying to absorb as much of them as I possibly can.

The Thirteenth Tale is about England's best loved writer, Vida Winter and the truths to her life story and a bookseller, Margaret Lea who grows up with a love for books and reading and taking care of them in the bookstore.

The story is narrated in first person by Margaret who has no interest in contemporary writing and is more at ease with writing the biography of dead people than of the living.

To quote "The shop was both my home and my job. It was a better school for me than school ever was, and afterward it was my own private university. It was my life."

To quote "My real work is in the bookshop. My job is not to sell the books—my father does that—but to look after them. Every so often I take out a volume and read a page or two. After all, reading is looking after in a manner of speaking. Though they’re not old enough to be valuable for their age alone, nor important enough to be sought after by collectors, my charges are dear to me, even if, as often as not, they are as dull on the inside as on the outside. No matter how banal the contents, there is always something that touches me. For someone now dead once thought these words significant enough to write them down."

I think to myself as I read, how wonderful it must be, to grow up in a bookstore, especially one that is owned by the family, to be able to help out in the bookstore, to be with nothing but books, and to have nothing to do but read. Literature, biography, autobiography, memoirs, diaries, letters, you name it, the bookstore has it. How wonderful is that!

The author also put down in words simply, the very truth to the existence of books.

To quote "People disappear when they die. Their voice, their laughter, the warmth of their breath. Their flesh. Eventually their bones. All living memory of them ceases. This is both dreadful and natural. Yet for some there is an exception to this annihilation. For in the books they write they continue to exist. We can rediscover them. Their humor, their tone of voice, their moods. Through the written word they can anger you or make you happy. They can comfort you. They can perplex you. They can alter you. All this, even though they are dead. Like flies in amber, like corpses frozen in ice, that which according to the laws of nature should pass away is, by the miracle of ink on paper, preserved. It is a kind of magic."

This book is like a gateway to another world, at least before Vida Winter starts off on her own extraordinary story. It is difficult to like Vida Winter's story because it disturbs me to read about characters who are mentally deficient, and children whose behaviour are likely the result of parental neglect and/or lack of discipline. Even though I dislike the story within the story, I am absorbed by the storytelling. And the more I learn, the more curious I am about the missing gaps in the story. It is hard to fathom how the violent vagabond of a child who refuses to communicate properly with anyone except her sister, develops into a disciplined author with dozens of bestselling novels to her name.

The Thirteenth Tale is a spellbinding story. Not only does it bind me to the story, but it also bespells me to quote thirteen of the passages as my favourites. It is definitely not a deliberate move on my part. Reading this book is magic indeed. Underrated? Yes, definitely.